AUTHOR=Zhou Jiahao , Qiao Jinzhu , Wang Juan , Quan Ruidang , Huang Rongfeng , Qin Hua 

TITLE=OsQHB Improves Salt Tolerance by Scavenging Reactive Oxygen Species in Rice

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=13

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2022.848891

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2022.848891

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<p>Soil salinity is a major environmental stress that restricts the growth and yield of crops. Mining the key genes involved in the balance of rice salt tolerance and yield will be extremely important for us to cultivate salt-tolerance rice varieties. In this study, we report a <italic>WUSCHEL</italic>-related homeobox (<italic>WOX</italic>) gene, quiescent-center-specific homeobox (<italic>OsQHB</italic>), positively regulates yield-related traits and negatively regulates salt tolerance in rice. Mutation in <italic>OsQHB</italic> led to a decrease in plant height, tiller number, panicle length, grain length and grain width, and an increase in salt tolerance. Transcriptome and qPCR analysis showed that reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging-related genes were regulated by OsQHB. Moreover, the <italic>osqhb</italic> mutants have higher ROS-scavenging enzymes activities and lower accumulation of ROS and malondialdehyde (MDA) under salt stress. Thus, our findings provide new insights into the role of rice <italic>WOX</italic> gene family in rice development and salt tolerance, and suggest that <italic>OsQHB</italic> is a valuable target for improving rice production in environments characterized by salt stress.</p>